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History of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States
traces its roots back to 1899. That year, Veterans of the Spanish-American
War (1898) and the Philippine Insurrection (1899-1902) founded local
organizations to secure rights and benefits for their service. In Columbus,
Ohio, they founded the American Veterans of Foreign Service. In Denver
Colo., they organized the Colorado Society, Army of the Philippines.
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In 1901, Philippine Veterans in
Altoona and Pittsburgh, Penn., started the Philippine War Veterans. The
following year, Philadelphia, Penn., became the home of the American
Veterans of the Philippine and China Wars. In 1905, these three groups
merged with the American Veterans of Foreign Service.
In 1913, the American Veterans
of Foreign Service was amalgamated with the Colorado Society, Army of the
Philippines and became the Army of the Philippine-Cuba and Puerto Rico,
then changed their name to the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United
States.
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Cross of Malta
The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United
States adopted for its symbol the Cross of Malta, which has a heritage of honor,
duty, sacrifice and courage that dates back to th 11th century.
The Cross has its origin in the
Knights of St. John, a strict order of crusaders originally founded to
maintain a hospital for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land. From this
order evolved two divisions, the Knights Templar, famed for their ability
to fight, and the Knights Hospitaler, humanitartians who provided for the
sick and distressed.
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The Knights established branches throughout
Europe and moved their headquarters to Cyprus. From Cyprus the headquartes
was eventually moved to Rhodes in the 14th century and was transferred from
there to the island of Malta in the 16th century. There they became known
as the Knights of Malta.
The insignia of the Knights of
Malta is basically the same as the one used today by the Veterans of
Foreign Wars. It is an 8-pointed cross formed by four arrowheads meeting at
the points. Each represents one of the Beatitudes taken from Jesus' Sermon
on the Mount. The arrowheads indicated the knights were willing to fight
for the principles of justice and truth, although their order was basically
a peaceful one.
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